THE SHORTHORN. 



which all the best breeders of farm stock made resort. The scene rises 

 up through the dim vista of more than one hundred years." 



In the business room there are not only skeletons, but pickled 

 carcasses of sheep, whose points were most after their breeder's 

 heart ; but he shows with no less relish some beef joints, the relics 

 of his "Old Comely," who died at 26 years and the outside fat of a sir- 

 loin fully four inches thick. The latter were his Longhorn trophies, 

 and no man could boast of a herd with deeper flesh and lighter offa". 

 In his eyes the breed was fated to represent the roast beef of Old Eng- 

 land for ever and aye ; and the thought that the very glory of th ir 

 herds would be objected to as taking up too much room in the straw- 

 yards, and that a race with shorter horns and earlier maturity from 

 " the banks of the stately Tees" would ruthlessly push them from 

 their place and reduce them to a mere fraction in the Midlands never 

 vexed his soul. Their hold of public favour had been long and sure, 

 and their greatest triumph was to come. If " Two Pounder" had then 

 the reputation of earning 800 guineas in one season and serving some 

 picked home ewes as well, the Dishley bull " Twopenny" was fated to 

 make the herd of Fowler of Rollright, and swell its sale average to 

 <8i 145. 3d. for fifty-one head, a good average in those days. 



Longhorns of some kind or other, and generally with good mi k 

 marks and the faculty of fattening at a great age, were at this period 

 the 'farmers' friends. They excited the admiration of Dr. Johnson in 

 Derbyshire, and led him to note that his host " whose talk is of bul- 

 locks" sold one of them for 100 guineas to Sir A. Ramsay to cross 

 with the Aberdeenshire and other breeds of that period 



The Holderness, a line, large-framed breed, with good backs, long 

 quarters, remarkably clean, straight legs, and well-developed udders, 

 grazed in the district north of the Humber. Many of them were 

 white, with blue or bay flecko but the largest number were dark mouse 

 and white, and, as was natural from their proximity to Hull and their 

 general appearance, they were thought to be of Dutch origin. Milk 

 was their speciality, and Mr. Curwen was wont to value their dairy 

 produce at 20 a year per cow. 



Under the local name of "Teeswaters" the Shorthorns, to which the 

 Holderness seemed to bear the most affinity in character, had go a 

 strong hold in Durham sveral years before the close of 1799', but still 

 it was not until " The Durham Ox" commenced his six years of cara- 

 van life in 1801 that the doom of the Longhorns were virtually sealed 

 as regards beef producers, though not as milkers. 



The Teeswaters were cattle of great substance, but somewhat ungain 

 gainly in form, and were thought to give no less but richer milk than 

 the Holderness. The fragments of history on which their origin rests are 

 somewhat shadowy and uncertain. Some contend therefrom that they 

 nmst be of Dutch origin, and only another version of the Holderness! 

 and others, with equal zeal, that their tap-root is to be found in the 

 West Highlands, or that their earlier breeders always fell back on its 

 bulls for a cross if they thought that their herd was losing constitu- 

 tion. There is certainly some confirmation of this opinion in the 

 peculiarly sharp horns and ink-black noses which will appear at in- 

 tervals. These characteristics, however, may be inherited from their 

 aboriginal ancestors. The admirers of the " Princesses" make good 

 the claims of long descent as -far back as 1739, on Stephenson's farm 

 at Ketton ; and it is also said that the ancestors of the " Duchesses" 

 roamed in Stanwick Park over 200 years ago, and that none of the 

 tribe had been out of the Northumberland family until Charles Colling 

 bought them .Be this as it may. the Teeswaters' capability of develop- 

 ment, which the St. Quinton, the Pennyman, and the Milbank familie? 

 were among the first to recognise, had suggested itself to many a 



in. 



